Traditional transportation modes via water, land, rail, and air revolutionized the movement and growth of our current culture. The adverse environmental, societal and economic impacts of these traditional modes of transportation, however, initiated a movement to find alternative modes of transportation that take advantage of the significant improvements in transportation technology so as to efficiently move people and materials between locations. High-speed transportation systems utilizing rails or other structural guidance components have been contemplated as a solution to existing transportation challenges, while improving safety, decreasing the environmental impact of traditional modes of transportation and reducing the overall time commuting between, for example, major metropolitan communities.
Particular high speed, high efficiency transportation systems utilize a low pressure environment in order to reduce drag on a vehicle at high operating speeds, thus providing the dual benefit of allowing greater speed potential and lowering the energy costs associated with overcoming drag forces. These systems may use a near vacuum environment within a tubular structure. Possibly the single greatest cost associated with the project is the tubular structure, e.g., made from a metal alloy, which spans the entire length of the project. Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved methods and apparatuses, for more efficiently forming tubular structures.